Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Brian Rusnica
Observers: Visitors: Thank you to Heike Georgs for spotting some birds today.
Weather: Partly cloudy throughout, but certainly a tale of two winds today. The first half of the day was extremely blustery at the summit, with a whipping SW wind keep birds extremely low and temperatures on the brisk side. Just before 12pm EDT however, winds thankfully stepped back to half strength and at times ceased all together, warming the summit and allowing for a decent second half of the day. Raptor Observations: Seeing yesterday's massive late count from Pack Monadnock was painful, knowing that quitting early meant that I probably gave up on hundreds of Broad-wings. The immediate lesson was not to stop counting too soon, and today it paid off well. Hawkwatching the first half of the day seemed like a mistake, with a cutting SW wind that seemed stronger than advertised at the summit. Only a handful of ridge-runners even attempted migration, mostly Ospreys. The second half of the day, with gentler winds, provided a slightly more productive trickle until a kettle of Broad-wings finally showed up right at 3pm EDT. This group appeared as 25 birds just over the Wapack Ridge, but blossomed into a stream of 80, moving at a modest clip over the true summit. At 4:10pm, another group of birds appeared as a kettle over the Lyndeborough Mountains, but much further out. This group initially looked like at least 60 birds through my glass, but as they moved slightly closer and slightly to the west, it became apparent this was a much larger kettle - a big spinning group of 200 Broad-wings. Add 40 more in smaller sub-kettles to the East and West and we had our best count of the season.
A Merlin made a loud pass over the decoy owl in the afternoon.
Non-raptor Observations: Common Raven 14 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Predictions: Warm and humid, cloudy with light winds, generally turning SW in the afternoon. A warm front brings a chance of showers to the area late in the day. Broad-wings are definitely moving despite the conditions of the last two days; I would imagine tomorrow could be considered the same. Friday still looking good, Saturday as well. Some rain on the horizon for Sunday. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Brian Rusnica (<brian_rusnica...>) Mount Watatic information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
